Women's Basketball

Central Connecticut State University alumna Beryl Piper returns
for her eighth season as the head coach of Blue Devil women’s
basketball. The 1987 graduate is the winningest women’s
basketball coach of CCSU’s Division I era with 93 career
victories. She has also led CCSU to three Northeast
Conference Tournament Semifinals (2009, 2010, 2011) in her tenure.
Piper enters 2014-15 with a career record of 93-115 in seven
seasons.

Last season, the Blue Devils missed the postseason, but senior
Jessica Babe capped her career by becoming the fourth Blue Devil to
earn All-Northeast Conference honors during Piper's tenure.
Babe was a Second Team All-NEC and NEC All-Defensive Team selection
following her senior season. Babe was also a CoSida Academic
All-District First Team selection in 2014.

In 2012-13, Piper led the Blue Devils to the NEC Tournament for
the fourth time in her career. CCSU tied for fourth in the
conference standings and entered the eight-team field as the #5
seed. Following the season, Jaclyn Babe was named First Team
All-NEC and was a CoSida Academic All-District First Team
selection. Babe became the first player under Piper to earn first
team honors from the NEC. The Blue Devils finished the season with
16 victories, the fifth highest season total in CCSU's Division I
history.

The 2011-12 season, the fifth under Piper, the Blue Devils
finished 13-16. The 13 wins marked the fourth consecutive
double-digit victory season for the Blue Devils and helped the team
to the best four-year record in program history. During the season,
then junior Jaclyn Babe scored 446 points and earned second team
All-NEC honors. Her classmate, Kirsten Daamen became the Blue
Devils' career leader in blocked shots and by seasons end she had
run her total to 140.

Piper led the Blue Devils to 19 wins in 2010-11. That is the
highest win-total for the program since joining the Northeast
Conference for the 1997-98 season. Piper also led her team to 11
conference victories and the third NEC Tournament victory of her
career. By reaching the NEC Tournament, the Blue Devils set a new
program best by making the postseason three straight years.

The Blue Devils won 12 games in 2009-10, including eight
conference games and earned the sixth seed in the Northeast
Conference Tournament. It was the Blue Devils second consecutive
NEC Tournament berth. Piper's squad upset third seeded Sacred Heart
63-51 to advance to the semifinals before falling to Long Island
University 61-55. Central's back-to-back tournament berths were the
first since 2004-05 and 2005-06.

In the second season under Piper, CCSU finished with the best
turnaround in the nation, improving from four wins in 2007-08 to 18
wins in 2008-09. Central finished with a 12-6 record in the
Northeast Conference and was the second seed in the NEC Tournament.
After falling to St. Francis (PA) in the conference semifinals
(73-62), the Blue Devils were selected to play in the Women's
National Invitational Tournament. It marked the first time in the
school's NCAA Division I history that the team qualified for post
conference tournament playoff action.

Piper collected her first collegiate victory at Stony Brook on
Dec. 12, 2007, leading the Blue Devils to a 61-59 win. She earned
her first Northeast Conference win on January 7, 2008 as CCSU
defeated Wagner, 62-54, on the road in overtime. The first win of
Piper's career in Detrick Gymnasium followed a week later when
Central defeated St. Francis (PA), 72-64.

In addition to Jess and Jaclyn Babe, Piper has guided two
players to NEC postseason honors. In 2009 sophomore Kerrianne
Dugan earned the first All-NEC honor during Piper's tenure, a
second team selection. Dugan was also the first Blue Devil to earn
conference accolades under Piper's guidance, receiving all-rookie
team honors after leading the Blue Devils in points, rebounds,
assists and steals in 2007-08. Shontice Simmons garnered all-rookie
team accolades after leading Central in points, assists and steals
as a freshman in 2008-09.

CCSU President Jack Miller and recently retired Director of
Athletics Charles, C.J., Jones announced Piper as the fourth
women's basketball coach in University history on Tuesday, June 12,
2007. Piper, a 1999 CCSU Alumni Athletics Hall of Fame inductee,
joined the Blue Devils after spending 19 seasons as the head coach
at nearby New Britain High School.

"I was very pleased to welcome Beryl Piper back to Central
Connecticut State University," Miller said. "As an alumna, she has
a great passion for our university and our women's basketball
program. Coach Piper has a remarkable winning record and is a
champion. I'm sure she can develop a winning formula for the future
of CCSU's women's basketball."

Piper guided the Golden Hurricanes to three state titles,
compiling a 289-151 record. New Britain won its first in 1998 and
added back-to-back championships over her final two seasons.
Beginning in 1998, Piper also won seven consecutive Central
Connecticut Conference South Division championships. She added two
north division crowns in her last two seasons there.

Piper's New Britain team finished the 2006-07 season with a 22-3
record en route to winning a second consecutive Class LL state
championship. A Trumbull, CT native, Piper was named the
Connecticut High School Coaches Association 2007 Coach of the Year.
Additionally, she was presented with the 2007 Merit Award by the
CIAC Girls Basketball Committee and was named the 2007 Connecticut
Sports Writers' Alliance Doc McInerney Coach of the Year in a
female sport. In 2008 she was inducted into the New Britain Sports
Hall of Fame.

"This was the perfect time for me to make this transition,"
Piper said at the time of her hiring. "Central Connecticut gave me
a chance to be a player and now is giving me a chance as a coach. I
feel I worked hard to become successful as a player. As a coach, I
will use the same work ethic to make the University and community
proud of the women's basketball program."

Piper was a three-sport athlete at Trumbull High and is now a
member of the school's hall of fame. She then went on to attend
CCSU, where she played basketball under the legendary Brenda
Reilly.

A four-year player and co-captain of the 1985-86 women's
basketball team, Piper helped lead the Blue Devils to a 24-4 mark
as a senior. That team, which reached the NCAA Division II
quarterfinals, holds the record for most wins and best winning
percentage in program history.

She also participated in Blue Devil softball. As a senior, Piper
won the Gail Rutz Award as CCSU's outstanding female
student-athlete. She went on to play professionally for Team
Blarney in Ireland, where she was part of the 1986-87 national
championship team.

In addition to being one of 12 women's basketball members in the
Central Connecticut Alumni Athletics Hall of Fame, Piper has
received the Rebecca McCord Award for Athletic and Academic
Excellence from the University.

She earned her master's degree in health education from Southern
Connecticut in 1991 and completed 30 credits beyond her master's in
2003 at the University of Hartford.

Piper, who also served as a physical education teacher at New
Britain High, began her coaching career as a junior varsity coach
and varsity assistant coach at Northwest Catholic High School in
1987-88, during which the varsity team won a state title. She moved
on to New Britain for the following season, inheriting a 0-20 team.
She concluded her run at NBHS with 11 straight winning seasons.
Over her last 10 seasons, Piper compiled a 200-49 record.